What it is: a blog, a forum , a little spring of knowledge, a resting place, a comfortable spot, a shelter.
Purpose: dissemination of art, poetry, literature, for life, for healing, for a balanced wellness, an approaching of the truth or truths of existence.

Wednesday, February 23, 2005

"Troy," --this latest version of the Iliad

I had ordered the DVD as part of a deal with some firm, and saw a chance to present it to some of my students, since one of them has been reading a simple English translation of the Iliad, albeit in comic book form. So far I've enjoyed it, though I can see how hard it would be to do a faithful version of the epic, wow the masses, and still please the critics. I didn't like that the director saw fit to alter the plot by leaving out the beginning of the plot, where Agamemnon insults Apollo, and has to later still surrender Chryseis.

Yet judging by the standard of Hollywood, if there is one standard, Troy is not a bad film. It just failed the expectations one might have had because this epic has such high ranking in the canon of Western literature.

You are the Gender Abolitionist type of feminist. This means that you
feel the best way to destroy patriarchal oppression is to rid ourselves
of misguided gender roles, and instead live in a society that does not
make such marked assumptions about gender differences. The Gender
Abolitionist is culturally radical, but rather conservative when it
comes to sexual liberation and politics. You have a strong sense of
human rights for all. In fact, you are actually a very moral person.
You don't see people in terms of gender and are thus very philosophical
in order to perceive the world in such a manner. You think people
shouldn't identify others in terms of gender. When most people see a
person, the first thing they think is "That person is a woman" or "That
person is a man", but they do NOT think "That person is a
short-fingernail". Most make someone's gender their IDENTITY, but
fingernail length would never be considered part of their identity. A
gender abolitionist would claim gender should be like fingernail
length--it shouldn't be part of someone's identity. By making gender a
part of identity, difference is emphasized and oppression is often
justified. Thus, gender shouldn't be regarded to such a large extent by
society. You are mostly concerned with seeing women become fully
equalized with men by eliminating gender roles, as these roles oppress
women.